Laura B. Smolkin

Supporting Comprehension Acquisition for Emerging and Struggling Readers: The Interactive Information Book Read-Aloud.

This article begins with the suggestion that comprehension-related activities need not wait until children are fluently decoding but may be used during a phase that we term comprehension acquisition. We turn our attention to the features of the interactive information book read-aloud, an instructional approach we see as supporting both nonreaders and nonfluent readers prior to the introduction of instruction in cognitive and comprehension strategies. Following our presentation of the 4 key features of this approach-interaction, information books, teacher awareness of text features, and time for in-depth readings-we examine the ways in which these read-alouds relate to what Ellis and Wortham (1999) termed a watering up of curriculum for students with special needs.

BEYOND THE INDEPENDENT-LEVEL TEXT: CONSIDERING THE READER?TEXT MATCH IN FIRST GRADERS' SELF-SELECTIONS DURING RECREATIONAL READING

This study examined the recreational self-selections of two classes of first graders from extensive classroom libraries that included a large percentage of informational books. The following questions guided this study: 1) What are the readability levels of the books self-selected by low-, average-, and high-ability readers during recreational reading in their first grade classrooms? 2) Are there differences in the amounts or readability levels of story and informational books selected by boys and girls of different reading abilities? The participants were students of the same teacher in two consecutive years at two different schools. Self-selected texts were recorded for six continuous weeks during the once-daily, thirty-minute recreational reading period that served as one part of the reading program. The selections were examined for the match between the childrens reading level and the readability level of books selected by low-, average-, and high-ability readers. Findings indicate influences of gend...This study examined the recreational self-selections of two classes of first graders from extensive classroom libraries that included a large percentage of informational books. The following questions guided this study: 1) What are the readability levels of the books self-selected by low-, average-, and high-ability readers during recreational reading in their first grade classrooms? 2) Are there differences in the amounts or readability levels of story and informational books selected by boys and girls of different reading abilities? The participants were students of the same teacher in two consecutive years at two different schools. Self-selected texts were recorded for six continuous weeks during the once-daily, thirty-minute recreational reading period that served as one part of the reading program. The selections were examined for the match between the childrens reading level and the readability level of books selected by low-, average-, and high-ability readers. Findings indicate influences of gender and genre on the high percentage of selections that were made above childrens reading levels. The relation of frustration-level texts to interest and motivation, as well as to supporting childrens conceptual and genre knowledge growth, are discussed.

Elementary Teachers’ Use of Graphical Representations in Science Teaching

The purpose of this study was to obtain data on United States K-5 elementary school teachers’ self-reported instructional practices with graphical representations. Via an electronic survey, 388 elementary teachers, from throughout the US, reported about their teaching of the interpretation and the production of graphics within science. The main findings indicate that: (1) pointing to or referring to graphical representations in books (92% of respondents) was the most frequently used instructional practice across the disciplines and grade levels; (2) five of nine graphical representations (over 90%) were more frequently used in science instruction than in other content areas, and (3) students’ graphical productions involving drawings, labeling, and oral and written explanations were very infrequent. The findings indicate that while teachers may tacitly use graphics within science instruction, they may not be explicitly teaching about this visual form of communication.

Supporting Informational Writing in the Elementary Grades

The greater emphasis on information books in elementary schools has led to an increased emphasis on informational writing as well. Although some have suggested utilizing mentor texts to engage children in informational writing, there has been little information about the developmental progression of childrens ability to compose in this genre. What has been missing is advice on how to support childrens approximations of the information report genre. This article aims to do precisely that by presenting a developmental framework of informational writing derived from a study of K–5 childrens writing. We share the framework, provide examples of childrens compositions at each developmental level, and demonstrate how teachers can use this continuum to support increasingly more mature forms of information text.

Cross-cultural partnerships: acknowledging the “equal other” in The Rural/Urban American Indian Teacher Education Program

Abstract This paper presents a description of The Rural/Urban American Indian Teacher Education Program, based on Bubers (1970. I and thou. New York: Scribner) notion of the equal other. It featured cross-cultural partnerships at every possible level – university faculty, mentor teachers, and student teachers. The programs goals were two-fold: the preparation of more American Indian teachers and the culturally enhanced preparation of the “white, female, monolingual” (Zeichner, 1992. Educating teachers for cultural diversity. East lansing, MI: National Center for Research on Teacher Learning) candidates who represent the majority of teacher education candidates. A look at some of the successes and failures of the program, as well as its distinctive features, may aid those seeking to stress context and culture in preservice teaching situations.

Automaticity and Phonemic Representations: Perceptual and Cognitive Building Blocks for Reading.

Since the popularization of the theory of automaticity as it pertains to reading (LaBerge & Samuels, 1974), 20 years of interdisciplinary theory building and research has led to increasingly specific descriptions of the automatic reading process. Developments in cognitive theories of skill automatization, and advances in psycholinguistics and neuropsychological research in language processes, have led to a more modular view of the specific linguistic functioning that affects the development of literacy. Current consensus and controversies about automatic processing in reading reflect researchers’ efforts to locate perceptual and cognitive functions that are most important to the efficiency of text decoding. This article describes the search that has led many researchers in the fields of cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics, and neuropsychology to the study of the smallest perceptual component of speech — the phoneme. The speed, accuracy, and strength of phonemic representations in decoding text is now ...

An ESL/Bilingual/Bicultural Pre-collegiate Program for Southeast Asian Refugee High School Students.

Abstract This paper describes a unique interagency effort to prepare Southeast Asian immigrant high school students for success in post-secondary educational pursuits, including both two-year associate degrees from technical institutions and four-year degrees from colleges and universities. The historical perspective on the development of the “English for College Precollegiate Program” is followed by an evaluation of the first years curriculum. Given that analysis, a second year curriculum, more focused on the cultural storytelling aptitude of the students, was developed. Narrating these culturally familiar stories provided a bridge between the self and the new academic setting. Another key component of the program was the use of peer counselors who, as native speakers of Southeast Asian languages, provided the bilingual support for the high school students. Critical aspects of each years efforts are noted, and the paper concludes with some thoughts on enhancing a multicultural focus in the program.

Searching for Explanations in Science Trade Books: What can we learn from Coh-Metrix?

Given the importance of explanation in science texts for children, this research explored Coh-Metrix as a tool for rapidly determining the presence of explanations in science trade books. Variables from Coh-Metrix specifically addressing cause (causal content, causal cohesion, and positive causal connectives) were correlated with an existing, high-inference causal variable from previous research. Moderate correlations were found for causal cohesion and positive causal connectives (both r(18)  =  0.46, p  <  0.05); no correlation was found with causal content. Somewhat stronger correlations were found with two, co-referential Coh-Metrix variables, argument overlap and stem overlap. These findings suggest that Coh-Metrix may be used for an initial screening to determine if a science text has the necessary conditions to be explanatory.

Science and Literacy: Considering the Role of Texts in Early Childhood Science Education

This chapter examines the integration of science and literacy in early childhood education. We begin with a review of research on the types of science texts designed for young children and for early childhood classrooms – commercially produced, trade literature, and researcher-created. Such science texts present unique challenges in their content, their linguistic structures, and their varied visual representations. As relates specifically to trade literature, genre and subject matter can be sources of concern – genre in that texts that conflate story with scientific information and explanations may produce little science learning or scientific misconceptions, and subject matter in that current trade literature for young children chiefly addresses life science, with very few books written on physical science topics. Despite their importance, science texts have a very limited presence in current early childhood classrooms. Further, early childhood teachers appear reluctant to include such texts in common early childhood instructional practices, such as read alouds; this may be due to their own insecurities regarding science instruction. Given the importance of inquiry science, multiple researchers, working to enhance the quality of early childhood science instruction, have integrated text and inquiry science. We examine various Text Integrated Inquiry Science (TIIS) programs, acknowledging both unique and common program features, as well as limitations in research designs. A consideration of promising TIIS practices concludes this chapter.